Apparatus for treating tobacco products



June 19, 1962 A. ESENWEIN ET AL 3,039,201

APPARATUS FOR TREATING TOBACCO PRODUCTS Filed Sept. 26, 1957 2Sheets-Sheet l Jfans jibe-Z June 19, 1962 A. ESENWEIN ETAL 3,039,201

APPARATUS FOR TREATING TOBACCO PRODUCTS Filed Sept. 26, 1957 2Sheets-Sheet 2 1' 9 T 92 63 I 6F Fig. 2 #4 7/5 72 I l 96; 9: 90 F294 I F#A i 7/9 72/ I 777 7/5 1 723 726 7/3 II 'LL #6 /L 722 724 In van Z021;

777 JZ/era .isenwezn j/ans Ji'ack United States Patent 3,039,201APPARATUS FOR TREATING TOBACCO PRODUCTS Albert Esenwein,Hamburg-Bergedorf, and Hans Koch, Hamburg-Rahlstedt, Germany, assignorsto Kurt Korber & C0. K.G., Hamburg-Bergedorf, Germany Filed Sept. 26,1957, Ser. No. 686,300 Claims priority, application Germany Sept. 26,1956 4 Claims. (Cl. 34-48) The present invention relates to an apparatusfor treating tobacco products, and more particularly to heat treatmentsuch as roasting of the tobacco in a cylindrical oven where the tobaccois continuously fed to the oven and the heating temperature thereof isautomatically controlled.

One object of the invention, is to provide an apparatus for heattreating and roasting tobacco by providing additional heating means inaddition to the heating means in the oven which can be convenientlycontrolled to effect rapid changes in temperature in the heating oven,and thereby maintain the temperature thereof at a predetermined leveldepending upon the moisture content of the tobacco being supplied to theoven.

Another object, is to provide an apparatus for heat treating tobaccosuch as roasting and the like in which the tobacco is continuously fedto a roasting oven which includes a rotating cylinder having steamheating pipes therein and a feed hopper at one end projecting into thecylinder for feeding the tobacco. Directly beneath the outlet of thefeed hopper is positioned the discharge noZ zle of an auxiliary heatingdevice to direct a stream of hot air through the tobacco as it falls bygravity into the heat treating cylinder.

Another object, is to provide a heat treating apparatus for roastingtobacco in which the discharge end of the rotating cylinder is providedwith a discharge hopper above which is arranged a perforated sieve platefor the purpose of drawing off excess moisture in the roasting oven bysuction means having the conventional vent for the normal escape ofmoist air from the roasting cylinder.

Another object, is to provide an apparatus which includes a hygrometercontrol system in which a humidity control switch is actuated to close acircuit through a solenoid control valve governing the flow ofadditional heat to the heat treating cylinder,

Another object, is to provide a heat treating apparatus in which thesteam heating pipes passing into the heat treating cylinder are mountedin blade members adapted to agitate the tobacco as it passes throughsaid cylinder and permit the blast of warm air from the auxiliary heaterto pass through the particles of tobacco more readily.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparentduring the course of the following description of the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the heat treatingapparatus showing the manner in which the inclined roasting cylinder issupported at its opposite end and illustrating the auxiliary heatingdevice arranged at one end with its discharge pipe presented to one endof the cylinder beneath the supply hopper.

FIGURE 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of one of the end housingsshowing the arrangement of the heater blower assembly housed therein.

FIGURE 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken on line 33 and lookingin the direction of the arrows to illustrate one of the agitator blades,and the manner in which the steam heating pipes are encased therein; and

FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the control system for theauxiliary heater.

3,039,201 Patented June 19, 1962 ice In the drawings, and more for thepurpose of illustration, attention is first directed to FIGURE 1 whereinthere is shown a heat treating apparatus for tobacco including a supplyhousing generally designated 10 and a discharge housing generallydesignated 11. An inclined rotary cylinder likewise generally indicated12 has its ends supported by the spaced casings 10 and 11, and said heattreating cylinder is formed of an elongated tube 12 having annularcastings 13 and 14 on the opposite ends thereof. The casting 13 issuitably secured in place and is shaped to provide a ring 15, while thecasting 14 is similarly shaped to provide a ring 16.

The housing 10 is provided with a pair of spaced angle bars orstructural channel members 18 arranged in spaced relation, and saidchannel members are adapted to support a pair of bearings 19 forsupporting a rotary shaft 20 on Which is keyed a gear wheel 21. The gearwheel 21 drivingly engages a ring gear 23 on the casting 13, and saidshaft is fitted on one end with a sprocket wheel 24. The ends of thecylinder 12 rest upon wheels 25 and 26 supported by the respectivehousings 10 and 11 in the conventional manner The gear wheels 26 aremounted on shafts 28 arranged in circumferentially spaced relation, andeach of said shafts is supported in bearing caps 30 mounted on anupright frame 33 built into the housing 11. Since the arrangement of thewheels 25 is identical to that described in connection with the wheels26, a description of one will suffice for both. The structure is suchthat the ends of the cylinder 12 are rotatably supported on the wheels25 and 26 in the respective housings 10 and 11.

The sprocket wheel 24 is adapted to be driven from the output shaft 34of a speed reducer 35 which may be of the variable type to permitrotation of the cylinder 12 at different speeds. The input shaft of thespeed reducer 35 is provided with a pulley 36 over which is trained adrive belt 37 for drivingly connecting the pulley 38 on the armatureshaft of an electric motor 39 to said speed reducer. The speed reduceris provided with a manual control 40 to change speed in the conventionalmanner.

Extending into the cylinder 12 from one end thereof is a series ofheating coils arranged in groups disposed in circumferentially spacedrelation within the cylinder 12. The heating pipes 42 are arranged in azig-zag fashion and have their inlet and outlet pipes 43 and 44respectively connected to a rotatable header 45 arranged in spacedrelation from one end of the cylinder 12. The header 45 rotates on aninclined steam supply pipe 46 having a coupling 47 adapted to beattached to a suitable source of steam supply. The shaft 46 may beprovided with a discharge passageway (not shown) to permit flow of steamfrom the steam header 45 through the pipes 42 and thence back to thesource or atmosphere through the return duct. The heating pipes 42 areshielded by blade members secured to the inner periphery of the shell12, and as shown in FIGURE 3 the steam heating pipes 42 are arranged ingroups. with one wall 48 extending along one group of pipes and theother side wall 49 being shaped to extend along the sides of another setof steam pipes of the same group. The blade member 50 formed by the sidewalls 4% and 49 is secured tothe inner periphery of the cylinder 12 bywelding or the like, as at 52, and if desired the heating pipes 42 canbe connected together by anchoring straps 57.

The housing 10 includes a base upon which the speed reducer 35 ismounted, and said base supports a a lower housing having front and rearWalls 61 and 62, and a top wall 63. Supported on the top wall 63 is ashroud casing 65 having an opening 66 (FIG. 2) for receiving the lefthand end of the cylinder 12. The housing formed by the walls 6162 and 63is re-inforced with vertical channel bars connected by horizontalchannel bars 18 and 68. An opening 69 is formed in the front wall of theshroud housing 65 for receiving a feed hopper 70 which has its lower endprojecting downwardly into a discharge opening 7 11 directed in such amanner as to feed tobacco to the interior of the cylinder 12.

Mounted in the casing on the base 61 is a blower 73 having a pulley 74connected to its impeller shaft which is driven by an electric motor 75through a drive belt 76. The discharge housing '77 of the blower 73 isflared outwardly and is connected to a heating element 78 having heatingcoils supplied with steam through an inlet '79. An outlet (not shown) isprovided for conducting the steam to a return circuit. Mounted on theoutlet side of the steam heater 78 is a collection chamber 79 having avertically extending pipe So which is bent at its'upper end andterminates in a horizontal portion 81 projecting into the shroud housing65 through a suitable opening 82 therein. The end of the horizontalportion 81 is provided with a discharge nozzle 83 having a flap valve 84pivoted thereto as at 85. A control lever 86 is secured to the flapvalve 84 and is provided with a manually operable notched pull rod 87which projects through an opening for the passage of the control rod 87so that the notches in said rod may engage the edge of said opening andretain said flap valve 86 in position. It is to be noted that thedischarge nozzle 83 projects into the shroud with its discharge enddisposed beneath the discharge opening 71 of the hopper 71 Thus tobaccofalling by gravity into the cylinder 12 will be subjected to a blast ofwarm air at predetermined intervals depending upon the moisture contentof the tobacco being supplied to the cylinder in a manner which will behereinafter more fully described.

A butterfly valve 91 is pivotally mounted in the vertical portion 8t) ofthe warm air duct, and the stem of said valve 91 has attached thereto acontrol link 92 for a purpose which will be later defined.

The supporting housing 11 is constructed of vertical Walls 95 and 96arranged in spaced relation and extending upwardly from a base 97. Sidewalls 98 are provided and one of the side walls is provided with anopening 99 into which may be inserted a collection receptacle forreceiving the tobacco after it has been heat treated. A hopper 1% isprovided for directing the tobacco into a receptacle (not shown) placedtherebeneath. Extending between the upper Walls 95 and 98 is a sieveplate 101 which includes a metal sheet perforated throughout its areaand having one or more side frame members 1112 which are supported atone end by the wall 95 as at 103, and the opposite end on the upper endof a wall 105 as at 106.

The upper portion of the housing 11 between the walls 95, 98 and 1115are connected to the intake of a blower to create suction in thedischarge end of the cylinder 12 and withdraw vapors therefrom. Asuction vent duct 107 is connected to the wall 185, and may be providedwith suitable controls to vent the area bove the perforated sieve plate191 at certain intervals, and thus permit tobacco to fall from the sieveplate after it has collected thereon.

The feed shaft 46 is supported between the walls 96 and 165 by suitablemeans such as flanged collars or the like as at 108 and 109, and aspreviously set forth the shaft 4-6 is angled slightly so that its axiscoincides with the axis of the cylinder 12.

In order to control the butterfly valve 90 there is provided a controlcircuit shown schematically in FIGURE 4, and in order to accomplish thecontrol of the valve 90 a humidity regulator having a control switch isindicated at 113. This control unit may be of the Minneapolis-HoneywellCompany type in which a fine coil subject to moisture causes a shaft torotate in either direction and operate a switch at preselected humiditypoints. The tobacco is supplied to the humidity control regulator 113through a pipe 114 which passes through the humidity control regulatorswitch and passes through a measuring condenser 115 of the humiditycontrol switch device 113. A suitable source of electrical energy isinterposed between the low voltage circuit of the humidity regulatorswitch 113 (not shown) and the output is connected to an amplifier 116of the magnetic type well known in the art. The output of the amplifier116 is connected by lines 117 to an error detector 118 which detects themoisture of the tobacco according to the momentary humidity as Well asthe duration of time that the humidity is at a high or low amplitude.The output of the detector 118 is connected to an amplifier 119 and theoutput of the amplifier 119 is electrically connected by lines 121 to anelectric motor drive device 123. The armature of the electric drivedevice 123 is connected to the lever 124 which has its free endconnected to a link 126 pivotally attached to the arm 92 of thebutterfly valve 90.

It will thus be seen that in operation the cylinder 12 is rotatedcontinuously at a reduced speed by the motor 39, and that the steam issupplied to the heating coils 42 which rotate with the cylinder 12 sothat said heating coils will reach a proper predetermined temperaturefor roasting or otherwise heat treating the tobacco in the cylinder. Theblower 73 is likewise operated continuously, and steam is supplied tothe heating coils of the heater 78 through the inlet 79. As tobacco isfed to the hopper 70 it passes through the automatic moisture measuringdevice 113 and in so doing actuates the various amplifiers which controlthe motor 126 and permit the butterfly valve to be opened and closed inaccordance with the humidity condition of the tobacco passing throughthe duct 114. If the humidity content or moisture condition of thetobacco being fed through the duct 114 is within predeterminedstandards, the butterfly valve 90 will remain closed. A spring may beemployed for this purpose (not shown) to bias the valve to its closedposition. Thus, an additional heat will flow through the discharge 83 ofthe pipe 81, and the tobacco will be heated and toasted by theconventional heating coils in the cylinder 12. However, should themoisture content of the tobacco be high while passing through the pipeor duct 114, the butterfly valve 90 will be operated and uponenergization of the electric motor device 123 said valve will be openedto permit additional heat to pass into the cylinder 12 and be directedin a stream through the tobacco being fed thereto as it falls by gravityfrom the discharge 71 of the hopper 71). Thus, a warm stream of air willbe blown through the tobacco during suspension in the air which willremove moisture in excess of the prescribed amount so that when thetobacco is subjected to agitation and heat from the steam coils 42 andblades 51) the tobacco will be discharged through the hopper to asuitable collection chamber in the proper heat treated condition with acontrolled moisture content.

It has been found that temperature changes in the cylinder 12 can bemade rapidly within fine adjustment limits and that better results canbe obtained than by trying to regulate the temperature of the steampassing to the coils 42 due to the fact that a great time delay ensueswhen changing the temperature of the steam in the heating coils 42. Thistime lag is too great to control the temperature within fine adjustmentlimits, and by using an auxiliary heater wherein Warm air is directedthrough the tobacco as it falls by gravity from the supply hopper whenneeded a fine temperature adjustment can be more readily had and theresultant product will be more uniform after treatment.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown anddescribed is to be taken as a preferred embodiment thereof, and thatvarious changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may beresorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or thescope of the subjoined claims.

WhatI claim is:

1. In an apparatus for heat treating tobacco, comprising an inclinedrotary cylinder having an inlet and an outlet at the opposite endsthereof, means projecting into the outlet end of said cylinder forsupplying internal heat thereto to heat said cylinder to a predeterminedbasic temperature level, means at the inlet end of said cylinder forrotating the same, agitating means carried by said cylinder forsupporting said first named means, a hopper having a discharge endpresented to the inlet of said cylinder for feeding tobacco thereto bygravity, a blower mounted adjacent the inlet end of said cylinderadapted to be driven by the means for rotating said cylinder, a ducthaving its discharge end presented to the inlet end of the cylinder anddisposed beneath the discharge of said hopper, the other end of saidduct being connected to the discharge of said blower, a second heatermounted in the flow path of said blower and interposed in said duct, thedischarge end of said duct being disposed to introduce warm air to thestream of tobacco falling in front of said discharge end by gravity asit is fed from said hopper to the inlet of the cylinder, valve means insaid duct for regulating the flow of hot air to the discharge end ofsaid duct and increase and decrease the additional heat in the form ofhot air to intercept the tobacco during its gravity fall, and aperforated plate mounted near the discharge end of said cylinder topermit the escape of excess heated air and to filter the tobaccoparticles therefrom.

2. In an apparatus for heat treating tobacco comprising an inclinedrotary cylinder having inlet and outlet ends, heating coil meansprojecting into the outlet end of the cylinder for supplying internalheat thereto at a predetermined basic temperature level, means at theinlet end of said cylinder for rotating the same, agitating meanscarried by said cylinder for supporting said heating coil means, ahopper adjacent the inlet end of said cylinder having a dischargearranged to feed tobacco into the cylinder by gravity, a second heatermeans for directing additional hot air into said cylinder, said secondheater means including a duct having a discharge end presented to theinlet of the cylinder and disposed beneath the discharge of said hopperto feed hot air in a direction to intercept the tobacco during itsgravity fall from the hopper discharge, a source of hot air forsupplying said duct valve means in said duct to regulate air flowtherethrough, and means responsive to the humidity of the tobacco tocontrol said valve means, said valve being opened to permit additionalheat in the form of hot air to intercept the tobacco when its initialmoisture content exceeds a predetermined maximum and being closed whenthe moisture content of the tobacco is below the maximum value.

3. In an apparatus for heat treating and roasting to bacco, comprisingan inclined rotary cylinder forming a heating chamber having inlet andoutlet ends, heating coils projecting into said cylinder from the outletend thereof and secured to the cylinder to rotate therewith, means forrotating said cylinder at a reduced speed, agitating members in saidcylinder for supporting said heating coil means, a hopper having itsdischarge end presented to the inlet of said cylinder for feedingtobacco thereto by gravity, a blower adjacent the inlet end of saidcylinder, a duct connected to the discharge of said blower, a heaterinterposed in the duct in the flow path thereof, the discharge end ofsaid duct being disposed beneath the hopper discharge for directing arestricted stream of warm air to the cylinder after intercepting thetobacco from the hopper discharge falling by gravity, a casing locatedat the outlet end of the cylinder to receive treated tobacco therefromand form a collection chamber, a hopper in the lower portion of saidcasing for receiving and collecting the tobacco after it has beentreated, a sieve plate mounted in the upper portion of said casing andabove the outlet of said cylinder, valve means in said duct adapted tobe opened to permit additional heat in the form of hot air to interceptthe tobacco when its initial moisture content exceeds a predeterminedmaximum value and to be closed when the moisture content is below saidvalue, and control means responsive to the moisture content of thetobacco fed to said hopper for regulating said valve means.

4. In an apparatus for heat treating and roasting tobacco, an inclinedrotary cylinder forming a heating chamber having inlet and outlet ends,heating pipes extending into the outlet end of the cylinder forsupplying heat thereto at a predetermined basic temperature level, motormeans for rotating said cylinders at a predetermined speed, agitatorblades arranged in said cylinder on the inner peripheral Wall thereof incircumferentially spaced relation to provide a support and cover forsaid heating pipes, a hopper having its discharge presented to the inletend of said cylinder for feeding tobacco to one end of the cylinder bygravity, a heater blower unit arranged externally of the cylinder, aduct extending from said assembly having its outlet end projecting intothe inlet of the cylinder and beneath the discharge of the feed hopperto direct a stream of warm air into the cylinder and intercept thetobacco falling from the hopper discharge by gravity, a casing locatedat the outlet end of the cylinder, a collection chamber in the bottom ofsaid casing to receive tobacco after the same has been treated, a ventpassage in the upper portion of said casing to permit the escape ofvapor, and a filter screen mounted in the upper portion of said casingbetween the outlet end of the cylinder and the vent of said casing, saidduct being provided with valve means to regulate the passage of warm airfrom said heater blower unit, and said heater blower unit forming asource of additional heat separate and distinct from the heat suppliedby said heating pipes.

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